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PRESENTED BY 



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1833— 1900 



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1903 






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FAIRMAN ROGERS 



Fairman Rogers was born in Philadelphia on the 
fifteenth of November, 1833, an d died in Vienna on 
the twenty-second of August, 1900. Within this 
span of sixty-seven years there is comprised a life 
of unusual fulness, — but how brief for the large 
circle of his friends ! 

He was the only son of Evans Rogers, a retired 
iron-merchant of wealth, and of Caroline Augusta, 
a daughter of Gideon Fairman, the inventor of what 
is known, I think, as ' engine-turning' in the engrav- 
ing of bank-notes. To this invention is due the 
elaborate and artistic designs, at this day, on our 
national paper-currency, whereof we are justly 
proud. In addition to this aptitude for mechanics, 
Gideon Fairman possessed unusual intellectual and 
social charms. To the end of his life he was an in- 
timate friend of Washington Irving. I have heard 
my father say that Washington Irving on one occa- 
sion declared that were he condemned to a life-long 
imprisonment with the privilege of choosing the 
society of but one friend, his choice as a companion 
would be Gideon Fairman. 

It is worth while to recall these characteristics of 



the grandfather ; they reappear emphasized, if pos- 
sible, in the grandson. 

Fairman Rogers's father, sprung from a sturdy 
Pennsylvania stock which claims descent from John 
Rogers, 'the Martyr,' was an unyielding disciplina- 
rian, and, while indulging his son in whatever wealth 
can give, inculcated those principles of moral re- 
straint, exactitude in method, and precision in de- 
tails which were afterward so marked a feature 
in the son's career. Through the boy's mother, a 
woman of rare personal beauty, was transmitted, 
with no loss in the transmission, a heritage from 
Gideon Fairman of a serenity of temper which none 
of the vexations of life could ever ruffle. 

Under such influences the young lad grew up, 
disclosing from his earliest years a bent for me- 
chanical devices ; and was admired, caressed, and 
loved by all who knew him ; he was fond of riding, 
of dancing, of swimming, of skating ; his abbrevi- 
ated, customary name, 'Fair,' lent itself readily in 
his childhood to the endearing and equally ap- 
propriate ' Fairy.' Competent as he was in many 
directions, he was most apt in Physics and Me- 
chanics. Even while yet a school-boy, before 
he was admitted to college, he gave, at the request 
of his school-teacher, a lecture to his schoolmates 
on the electric telegraph, illustrated by means of 
wires attached to the walls and ceiling of the school- 
room. The exact date of this truly precocious 



performance I do not know, but, inasmuch as he 
entered college in 1849, li must have been in his 
fourteenth or fifteenth year, — that is, in 1847 or 
1848, — an early date, I fancy, for any one not pro- 
fessional, still more for so young a lad, to have 
been thus familiar with the subject in its infant days. 

He entered The University of Pennsylvania in 
his sixteenth year, — his seventeenth year began in 
the following November. After passing his en- 
trance examination, he sojourned during the summer 
with his family at Bethlehem, in this State ; here, in 
a family also sojourning in the quaint old Moravian 
town, he met his ' fate' in Miss Rebecca H. Gilpin. 
From this boy-love at first sight he never after for 
an instant swerved, but remained the enamoured, 
loyal lover through boyhood, manhood, and through 
age. After their marriage, in January, 1856, forty- 
four full years of mutual devotion hallowed a union 
whereof the world affords only too few examples. 

In the University his career was creditable from 
the start to the close. While not taking the high- 
est rank, he was always among the best. For 
Latin and Greek he cared little, but to the Mathe- 
matics and Physics he devoted all his zeal. A 
friendship here begun between the young collegian 
and Professor John F. Frazer, and continued with 
ever-increasing closeness as years advanced, ex- 
erted an abiding and beneficial influence on the 
character of the younger man. 



After he was graduated in 1853, young Rogers 
travelled for many months in England and on the 
Continent, where his route was mainly determined 
by his eagerness to examine the most famous works 
of modern engineering skill. 

After his return, probably in 1855, another warm 
and enduring friendship enriched his life, and 
was destined largely to control it. He became 
acquainted, — possibly at the table of Professor 
Frazer, — with Professor Alexander Dallas Bache, 
the Superintendent of The United States Coast 
Survey, who was evidently at once attracted to the 
quick-witted, well-equipped, sunny-tempered young 
man, and eventually accepted his services as a 
volunteer aid in the Government work then on 
hand in the measurement of a Base Line in Florida. 
Here was practice in the field, — such as any engineer 
double young Rogers's age would have been glad 
to gain, — under an officer the highest authority in 
the land in Civil Engineering, the most rigid and 
punctilious of military disciplinarians when on duty, 
the genial, warm-hearted friend, and, within the 
limits of becoming mirth, the most jovial of com- 
panions in hours of relaxation. Sterile, indeed, 
must be the soil which would not respond to such 
influences. In young Rogers's case the soil was 
ready to teem with flower and fruit. The hardest 
of hard work ruled the day, and in the evening, on 
board the Government boat, in the lagoons of 



Florida — '"Sir," said Dr Johnson, "we had good 
talk." ' Throughout his life Rogers delighted to 
recall the varied charms of this and similar expedi- 
tions under the command of Professor Bache. 

After the return from his wedding tour in Europe 
he was busily occupied, until the breaking out of 
the Rebellion in 1861, in giving series after series 
ot Lectures on Physics and its branches at The 
Franklin Institute and on Civil Engineering at The 
University of Pennsylvania, where he had been 
installed in the chair of that department. Later, 
in 1 86 1, he delivered a lecture on 'Roads' be- 
fore The Smithsonian Institution in Washington ; 
and still later, in 1863, he held for a year the appoint- 
ment of Lecturer in Harvard College. All these 
Lectures were marked by complete mastery of the 
subject, by thorough minuteness of detail, coupled 
with clearness of exposition and a quiet, refined 
manner of delivery, utterly devoid of pedantry or 
pretence. 

In 1857 he was elected a member of The American 
Philosophical Society, — the youngest man, it was so 
stated at the time, (he was only twenty-four years 
of age) on whom this honour had been conferred. 
In the summer of the same year he accom- 
panied Professor Bache to Maine, again as a 
volunteer aid, for the purpose of measuring the 
Epping Base Line, near Cherryfield, in that State. 

The outbreak of the Rebellion found Professor 



IO 



Rogers a member of The First Troop of Philadel- 
phia City Cavalry, a time-honoured and aristocratic 
militia organization, (dating from the days of the 
Revolution) of which our city has been always justly 
proud by reason of its admirable drilling and its 
handsome uniform. Throughout the long, still 
years of peace its duties had consisted in the orna- 
mental yet needful office of acting on State occasions 
as escort to the Governor of the State or to the 
President of the United States. But now this pro- 
found repose was broken by a call to arms. Al- 
though, probably, not a young man had joined The 
City Troop, in days gone by, with any thought that 
he should ever have to put his sabre to warlike 
use, yet now — 

' So near to grandeur is our dust, 
So close to God is man, 
When Duty whispers low, "Thou must," 
The youth replies, "I can." ' 

and not a stripling but sprang to the saddle. In 
the hurried preparation for actual service, I well 
remember hearing what requisitions were made on 
Fairman Rogers's forethought, — he was but a private 
in the ranks then, — and on his ingenuity in all ques- 
tions of detail, however minute. He spent a whole 
evening showing, over and over again, to almost 
every member in turn, with smiling patience, the 
most expeditious and convenient way of packing 



II 



the kit, and the most economical of space. When 
in camp Rogers was promoted to Orderly Sergeant. 
Several years later, when the Captain died, Rogers 
was elected to the vacancy. 

After having been mustered out of service at the 
end of the three months for which The Troop had 
been called into the field, Professor Rogers at once 
returned to his lectures before The Franklin Institute 
and to his classes at The University. Again he 
lectured in Washington before The Smithsonian 
Institution, this time on ' Glaciers.' In the mean- 
while he was again on Professor Bache's staff en- 
gaged in completing the survey of the Potomac. 
The autumn saw him again on service in the field as 
a volunteer Engineer Officer on the staff of General 
Reynolds ; and in the following summer of 1863, he 
was serving in the same capacity on the staff of 
General William F. Smith. Wherever and when- 
ever he believed he could be of service to his coun- 
try or to his fellow-men, his time, his labour, his 
talents were freely given. 

In 1863, The National Academy of Sciences was 
organized, and Fairman Rogers was one of the 
original fifty members elected by the United States 
Senate. 

As a member of this Academy, he was requested 
by the Government to correct the compasses of 
the iron vessels, which for this purpose and for his 
convenience were dispatched to the Philadelphia 



12 



Navy Yard. This task, in a novel department, 
required of him extraordinary skill, and was of the 
utmost responsibility. The experience and the 
exhaustive study which it involved found expression 
a few years later, in A Treatise on Terrestrial 
Magnetism and on the Magnetism of Iron Vessels, 
published by Van Nostrand, in 1877 ; a Revised 
Edition was published in 1883. At one time the 
Treatise was used as a text-book in The Naval 
Academy at Annapolis. 

With zeal such as his in whatever his hand found 
to do, united with so much efficiency, executive abil- 
ity, and prepossessing manners, it is small wonder 
that many an institution was eager to obtain his 
services on its executive board. 

After having faithfully performed the duties ol 
Professor of Civil Engineering in The University 
of Pennsylvania for fifteen years, he resigned the 
position in 1871, and was immediately elected to 
the Board of Trustees. Nine years later, when, 
through the resignation of Dr Stille, the office of 
Provost became vacant, Professor Rogers (the hon- 
ourable title still clung to him) was earnestly and 
unanimously requested by the Board of Trustees 
to accept the position. But he shrank from the 
weight of responsibility and the restricted liberty 
of action which its acceptance would entail, and 
declined the honour. 

At about the same time that he resigned his Pro- 



13 

fessorship in The University, he was elected one 
of the Directors of The Academy of the Fine Arts. 
Herein he found a field extremely congenial to his 
tastes, — the artistic blood of his grandfather was 
always stirring in him. What admirable fruit his 
zeal and enthusiasm bore let the following minute 
tell, which was adopted by the Board of Directors, 
after the tidings of his death in Vienna reached this 
country : — 

' Mr. Rogers was elected a member of the 
Board in 1871, and for twelve years served the 
interests of the institution with rare intelligence 
and devotion. 

' At the time of his election the Academy was 
preparing to give up its old habitation on Chestnut 
Street, and Mr. Rogers became Chairman of the 
Committee in charge of the present building. In 
its internal design and arrangement much that is 
admirable and best is owing to his careful and 
earnest thought. 

'Upon completion of the work in 1876, — the 
year of the Nation's Centennial Anniversary, — he 
became Chairman of the Committee on Instruction. 
The period was an important era in Art Education 
in the United States. Under Mr. Rogers the 
school system of the Academy was wholly reor- 
ganized upon a basis so thorough that the schools 
rose to the highest point reached in this country, 
and for the first time women were admitted to 



them upon the same conditions as men. Their 
pre-eminent position to-day for the study of the 
fundamental principles of art, and their character 
for sincere and earnest work, are in large measure 
due to Mr. Rogers' influence. 

'In 1883 he relinquished all active duties and 
withdrew from the Board of Direction, but the 
record of his benefactions and services must always 
be a part of the history of the Academy.' 

Another debt which we owe to Fairman Rogers 
is that he was one of the founders of The Union 
League, which was itself an offspring of The Sat- 
urday Club, whereof also he was one of the origi- 
nal promoters. The indebtedness of our city in 
times past to The Saturday Club is noteworthy. 
Composed as it was of men of influence and 
wealth, it fairly represented the working force of 
the city, and gave to this force a unity which 
neither New York nor Boston possessed. On one 
occasion, to give an instance of what I mean, at 
one of these Saturday Club evenings, the unhappy 
case was mentioned of one of our most eminent 
scientific men, of national and international reputa- 
tion, not a resident of our city, who was about to 
retire from his position at the head of a well-known 
institution in Washington, enforced thereto by age 
and infirmity, and yet with no provision for his 
family. The assertion was accepted by a group of 
men (in which Fairman Rogers was prominent) that 



15 

such a termination of a most honourable career 
would be a national disgrace. Whereupon, in a 
few minutes, the sum of sixty thousand dollars was 
promised, and the amount was collected and sent as 
a tribute of deep respect within two or three days. 
I doubt that in those days a similar deed could have 
been done anywhere else as expeditiously as in 
Philadelphia. It used to be jocularly said that half 
the affairs of The University were transacted at The 
Saturday Club. It was in these social gatherings 
that the design and scope of a Union League had 
its origin. In the final organization of The Union 
League, Professor Rogers took a leading part, and 
when it moved from its original quarters to its 
present location, the adoption of the architectural 
design of the building fell to his share of the work, 
and much of the admirable interior arrangement is 
due to him. 

From his early years Professor Rogers had been 
a collector of books ; naturally he preferred those 
in his own chosen department of Civil Engineering. 
Down to 1878 this collection had become about as 
complete as it was possible to make it, and he then 
presented it to the Library of The University as a 
filial and enduring memorial of his father. 

In another and favourite department he had also 
gathered a noteworthy collection, — namely, on 
Horsemanship. This collection is possibly unparal- 
leled in this country, and probably could not now 



i6 

be duplicated. It, too, he subsequently gave to 
The University Library. 

Professor Rogers was one of the early photog- 
raphers, and some of his pictures, taken forty-five 
years ago, show very careful manipulation, and 
will even stand a lenient comparison with those 
of the present day. 

According to a recent communication in The 
Rider and Driver, it is due to his ingenious 
application of the principle of a Zootrope that 
Mr. Muybridge was enabled to show from his own 
photographs animals in motion. From this device 
of Professor Rogers, so says the writer, have fol- 
lowed the Biograph, the Cinematograph, and all 
similar adaptations. 

One of the first typewriters, if not the very first, 
was set up by its inventor in Professor Rogers's 
library. At that time I remember hearing ot 
improvements which were suggested and adopted, 
and of the gratitude of the inventor. 

Of everything pertaining to Riding, Driving, and 
Hunting Professor Rogers was unfeignedly fond. 
He had ridden in England with The Pytchley and 
The Ouorn Hunt, and had been a member of the 
North Warwickshire ; here at home he was one of 
the founders of The Rose-Tree Hunting Club, near 
Media. Together with the late Judge Cadwalader 
and John D. Bleight, esq., he was the first in this 
country to test Baucher's methods and the riding of 



17 

the Hmtte Ecole. He was also the first, I think, in 
this city, — at least within recent years, — to own and 
drive a Four-in-hand Coach. 

Thus it was that this many-sided man touched life 
at such diverse points, and his solid worth dignified 
them all. The hand that could delicately adjust the 
compass on an iron ship lost none of our respect 
when it deftly caught a whip-lash in a double thong. 

The care and responsibility of so many interests 
where others were involved could not fail, as the 
years ran on, to make themselves felt to one as 
conscientious in the performance of every duty as 
was Professor Rogers. Accordingly, from time to 
time he resigned from one and another of the 
many institutions whereof he was a director, and 
finally decided to give up his steam yacht, and 
even his 'house beautiful' at Newport, where, as 
was his wont in everything he undertook, he had 
brought the art of 'ribbon gardening,' to such per- 
fection that the wonder and admiration of his neigh- 
bours in even that flowery kingdom were excited. 

An honestly-earned and indefinite rest in Europe 
seemed now to be his as of right. 

But a mind as active as his could not lie idle, 
— work of some kind was as essential to it as is 
air to the lungs. Thus it happened that what had 
been hitherto an altogether delightful and health- 
ful recreation now became a source of earnest and 
profitable study. The well-kept roads in England 



i8 

and on the Continent, the fair landscapes, the way- 
side Inns, the summers longer and gentler than here 
at home, — all combined to rekindle his love of horses 
and of driving ; and if of driving, then of driving 
in its highest perfection, — that of a Four-in-hand. 
Before his imagination there floated the ideal of a 
book which should hold to Coaching the same rela- 
tion that a scientific treatise holds to its subject, — it 
must be thorough, exact, exhaustive. The realisa- 
tion of such an ideal Professor Rogers, in the 
maturity of his powers, now resolved to attempt. 
The result was, in 1899, given to the public in 
A Manual of Coaching, a work which it would be 
difficult to praise too highly. By maintaining no 
standard lower than perfection in the humblest 
details of coach, of harness, of driving, it elevates 
what is perhaps supposed to be merely the pas- 
time of luxurious ease into the dignity of an art 
worthy of respect. A terret or a splinter-bar may 
be an insignificant thing, but perfection is not ; and 
in this Manual nothing is overlooked, from the posi- 
tion of a screw to the mathematical formula for com- 
puting the centrifugal force in turning a heavy coach 
round a sharp corner. In no case does the more 
excellent way fail to receive due note. Even to those 
who can mount the box and handle the reins only in 
imagination, the book is good reading. Here and 
there beams forth the twinkle of a laughter-loving 
eye, such as : ' If a man has not hands enough to 



19 

spare one to take off his hat to bow to a lady, he 
should continue to practise driving until he can 
find one ;' and, again, ' There is something so 
exhilarating in the motion behind four horses, 
through the fresh air, that even stupid people wake 
up, and for once make themselves agreeable ;' 
again, the humorous description of an unhappy 
beginner's first experience on the box, when 'the 
reins seem to be all edges,' speaks home to the 
heart of every driver. Again, there are sentences of 
epigrammatic wisdom, such as : 'It is usually better 
to keep out of a " fix," than to get out.' 

It is a sad satisfaction to know that the author 
lived long enough to be assured that his Manual 
was warmly admired and extolled by those best 
qualified to judge, and gratefully accepted at home 
and abroad as a standard authority. 

The end came swiftly, in Vienna. The footsteps 
of death were inaudible and noiseless. An organic 
ailment, — long suspected, but never obtrusive, — 
culminated after about a week's illness, and he now 
rests beside his father and his mother in Laurel 
Hill Cemetery. 

A choicer spirit has seldom visited this earth. 
To a keen intellect were united clearness of exposi- 
tion and a retentive memory. Warm and loyal in 
his friendship, he never cherished an ill-feeling, — for 
no one ever did him an unkindness. On many an 



20 



institution in his native city an ineffaceable impres- 
sion has been left of his judicious devotion ; of un- 
stinted hospitality, and the most considerate and 
attentive of hosts ; of such exquisite urbanity that, 
though emphatic and inflexible in his matured con- 
victions, he was never known to give offence in 
expressing them ; of high veracity, and a delicate 
sense of honour ; and of such imperturbable se- 
renity that it may be said with absolute truth that 
a harsh or hasty word never fell from his lips. 

Possibly it may be thought by those who did not 
know him face to face that in what has just been 
said there is too much of the ' personal equation.' 
Be it so. We were children together, boys to- 
gether, men together, brothers in love and in law. 
I can say but what I believe. 

Before her who is left within a shadow which will 
never lift we can but stand in silence. 

H. H. F. 



